Headlines from China: Can China Film Group Return to Its Glorious Days?

Among all the listed film companies in China, China Film Group Corporation(CFGC) is a special one. As the only state-owned studio in the A-share market, CFGC has certain political and financial advantages that other film companies don’t have. However, the special background also makes CFGC less profit-oriented and relatively inflexible. Once the leading film studio in China, CFGC hasn’t been able to produce highly successful and influential films in recent years, as the company failed to respond to the country’s rapidly evolving film market. In addition, CFGC has also been having a hard time attracting top talents. As for its film distribution business, CFGC’s recent performance is not impressive, either, despite the fact that it is one of the two designated distributors for all foreign imports. Facing fierce competition, CFGC has also been actively expanding in the film exhibition sector, owning 2489 movie theaters in China. To conclude, it’s still too early to predict what future holds for CFGC. Given the opportunities and challenges it faces, a willingness to reform is probably the key to the company’s future success. Read more on entgroup.cn

Douyin Releases Latest Users Demographics

Today, Douyin officially releases its user demographics for the first time. By the time of the release, its number of daily active users has exceeded 150 million, and its number of monthly active users has exceeded 300 million. Currently, over 40% of the app’s users are 24-30-year-olds, making this age group the dominant group. However, at its early stage, the app’s users were mainly comprised of people who are aged between 18-24. Launched in September 2016, the short-video app has gained huge popularity over the past two years. Moving forward, the company hopes to expand globally. In March 2018, Zhang Yiming, the CEO of Douyin’s parent company ByteDance, said that he hoped international users would make up 50% of Douyin’s total users in three years. Read more on TMT Post

Cannes Closing Film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” May Be Released in China

“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” the closing film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is expected to be released in China, according to sources familiar with the matter. The film is directed by Terry Gilliam and stars Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce. Driver already has a following in China because of his previous roles in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and hit HBO comedy-drama series Girls. In 2014, he won the Volpi Cup for his role in Hungry Hearts. He is also the leading character in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson. Driver’s fans in China are looking forward to the release of this new film. Read more on Mtime

China Film Insider reports on and writes about the people and companies making movies that soon may help to bridge the gaps in understanding between China, the United States, and the rest of the world. We work in Beijing, Los Angeles, and New York.